Nazem Kadri was offered more on free-agent market!

Fans were patiently waiting to see where Nazem Kadri would sign and finally earlier this month, he chose the Calgary Flames, who trade forward Sean Monahan and a first round pick to the Montreal Canadiens moments before the official signing to make room for the free agent under the cap. He then inked a seven-year, $49-million deal.

While I am not personally worried about Kadri’s bank account, the star forward himself revealed to host Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960 how other teams offered more in free agency, but the opportunity to win now was a huge factor in his decision to sign with Calgary.

He added how he’d put the centre depth of him, Elias Lindholm, and Mikael Backlund up “against anyone in the league”.

Clearly, Kadri is excited about the future with the Flames. No one really knows what the other offers might have looked like though it was well-known around the league that the New York Islanders were interested and that the Colorado Avalanche attempted all they could to re-sign Kadri.

In the end, there is a sense that Calgary is better with Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar than it was with Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. Last season, Kadri, Huberdeau, and Weegar combined for 246 points last year; Gaudreau, Tkachuk, and Monahan managed 242.

Kadri looks to have focused on more points than more money.